Tîrgu-Mureş

Tîrgu-Mureş tûr´go͝o-mo͝o´rĕsh [key], Hung. Maros Vásárhely, city (1990 pop. 172,470), central Romania, capital of Mureş judet (district), in Transylvania, on the Mureşul River. It is a major industrial center, with industries manufacturing food products, tobacco, fertilizers, machinery, and furniture. Tîrgu-Mureş is also a market for agricultural products. There are pedagogical and medical-pharmaceutical institutes in the city. Dating from the 12th cent., Tîrgu-Mureş was the scene (1704) of the proclamation of Francis II Rakoczy as ruling prince of Hungary. The city remained part of Hungary until 1918, when Romania acquired Transylvania more than half the population of Tîrgu-Mureş is Hungarian. Most of the city was rebuilt after a great fire in 1876, but surviving buildings include the 17th-century citadel, several old churches, and the baroque mansions once owned by the Teleki and Banffy families, magnates of Hungary. The 18th-century Telekiana library has valuable manuscripts, and the imposing, modern cultural palace contains an art gallery, an ethnographic museum, a library, and a conservatory of music.